Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-11-Speech-4-035"
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"en.20040311.3.4-035"2
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"Mr President, I should like to join in the condolences to the friends and relatives of the victims, the Spanish people, the Spanish government and the Spanish members of this House, and I deeply regret this brutal attack on democracy.
Last week, I was astonished at the statements by the Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Verhofstadt, who stated that families need to be given more financial incentives to care for their elderly parents at home. According to him, this idea should be the topic of a national debate in Belgium.
Most of the time, I like the idea of national debates, but in this case, the question arises whether the need for this debate is not simply as a result of the embarrassment with the issue of growing older. By means of fine policy proposals and election rhetoric, we try to address the problems of the elderly in health care. That, however, cannot conceal the fact that we are at a loss when it comes to this issue. After all, we ourselves hope to grow old in good health and not to have to rely on care for as long as possible, but we have no control over this.
I can remember that we discussed Mr Mantovani's report here last year, on 14 January to be precise. I then expressly stated that the discussion on care of the elderly and health care must not be bogged down in good intentions. It has to pay off for those who work in that sector. Sharing working practices and treatment methods should lead to an improvement in care. In addition, it must be made clear that health care and care of the elderly should not be considered from the perspective of economic costs alone. The elderly and patients are more than a debit entry. That is why I endorse the amendment tabled by Mrs Lambert about the change to paragraph 23.
The purpose of the internal market is not to attain financial gain on the back of the distress of patients. Equal access to care in all Member States is desirable, but mobility of patients does not appear desirable to me on account of the costs involved. In my view, paragraph 37 should not be deleted. Indeed, I can identify well with the conclusion that the rules of the internal market impact not only positively on health care.
I should like to return briefly to the statements by Mr Verhofstadt. Things can get worse still. In my country, a television station recently presented a docu-drama on the reception of poor Dutch elderly people in an African country where the care is more efficient because wages in the care sector are lower. Many viewers did not notice until later on that this programme was played by actors and the minister was even getting prepared for questions in parliament – but the fact that it was only fiction does not remove the impression that there is little room, if any, for voluntary care of family relations. Both the fine policy intentions and mocking satire are trying to give us a message. This is food for thought."@en1
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